New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-04-05
his OWN PUBLISHER"
AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. RUsKINS PUB
Usher
yrom The Pau Mall Gazette.

LISHEk
r,ou, The Pau Mall Gazette.
y. c,v from Paternoster-row to Sunnyside,
A. Orn;nrtou, where Mr.. Ruskin's publishing 10
carried on The noise and bdste OF great CONNER 1
Ill establishment are exchanged tor ',uiet ftte
tamlv circle and instead OF the "city's central
roar Won are surrounded by the bills OF kent. no
system business presents an even ndx;dnallv
mr. in INCORPORATED Soceties-against the w i, "
publishers and the tricks OF trade s: ,rammel and
".tah,ished n publisher and bookseller OF ms own,
ami on his own terms Th,s new m' nv ~% 80
described as follows i'll Fors Clavigera, the nrst OF
his hanks Inch bore the imprint OF George Allen
instead of Smith & Elder >" ,oo , .,
ait costs so to print ] 600 copies, ana 70
mora 10 Give YOU picture; and penny OH my "a
to seud you the book; a thousand aSp ens
are SOS when you have. bought thousand fors
nv single shopman. Mr.. Allen, s5 Tor his we won't
work for less either of u.s. And mean to sell al!
my large books. hencetorward in the same way nd
well printed, we'll bolnd, ard at hxed price ana
the trade NAV charge q proper aud acknowledged
profit for their trouble in retailing thc oook imil
the public will know what they are ao0a n' +" tue
hest of nav mower tor the quality OF tue book paper
binding eioqucnce, and all; the retail dcaer ;
what he ought to charge, openly: ana II t nc ht
40 not choose to give 1T, they can't get the DOCK
That is what call legitimate business .,,;a
II il now fifteen years since Mr. RusBin started TINS
alan of campaign and view OF the current contrc-
yersv between authors AID publishers we tnonsne
it would be both interesting ana instructive 10 'e' o
teorre Allen. 10 whom we communicated our pro-
po,a inquired tor Mr. Ruskins wishes in the matter,
and Mr. kuskin kindly authorized MN 10 .em Us
1evcrvthinp we cared to ask and show us everything
W. cared TO Sec" Our representative went down 10
Orpington accordingly, where he was eourteonsiy
received by Mr. Allen. and everything OF lnlereS,
hooks mates ledcers-was placed uurcservedy at ms
inspection The following is his description OF what
is probably one of the most successful, as u is Get
tainly the unique Publishing business i.'"e ""!'
PUBLISHING GIN FI&LD."
aMr Ruskin has transferred his publishing" said
,Ia
the middle OF a country field" The remark was quite
true Sunuyside is pleasant PIRATE noase. s'nuhs
In its own q ounds mich slope down into one OF inc
nrettiest yaies OF Kent Mr. Allen tells me that he is
fond OF roses and the tame OF his ca6oages
rome twelve miles from London, but the scene is one
ct complete rural secluslon. . ,.,
Behind Mr.. Aliens house at one sue OF ms pat tA
garden stands substantial shed Wnlch serves ior
Earehouse 1t is q valuable building: nave
taken stock only recently. and ind we
have s27 900 worth of goods slowed away Ion see
onr business was not made. it grew. If had lore
seen its growth, should have built a more eonmo-
dious warehouse, but we began W huinoe way Win
out one at all, and cannot go on adding 10 H. OF
should cover my garden in no time SO we nave 10
utilize every inch of space, as you see up tnere
Venice, down there in the corner are Inc seven
Lamps of Archec ure.'" II the science OF afchtect-
%re consist in the EN- OF ,S en 10 some
purpose Tor neater and better Kept warehouse you
will not easily find There are sixty-tnres dhereht
works Tor edilions) of Mr. Ruskin in stock-nost oil
them in various STYLES of binding. To keep all these
In due place. to execute orders for one mere ana
there every day, in what is hardly moe than % large
garden clubhouse. requires considerable SKILL anu
then Mr.. Ruskins books are not Ike other peoples
which complete in one vo.ume or TWO volumes vi
three He has at le st dozen OF them on bahd
appearing in barts at irregular Intervals meihod
which calls Tor quite as much metho on inc pun
fishers part as versatility the authors Even so
Mr. Allen must find i diiicut 10 meet all the IN
auiries from subscribers to tho state OF their
accounts and the progress OF the different serials.
THE PUBLISHER AS BOOKS LLER.
The issuing department is as heavily taxed as the
stockkeeping. Ordinary publishers deal, OF course,
almost entirely uhoiesale. Most OF their books are
subscribed for by the trade and subsequent country
orders are concentrated by London middlemen. But
Mr. Ruskin's leading idea to eliminate the middle
man. Hi. agent is okseller and publisher N one
The books are published by " and tor long time
were only Ito be had OF Mr. George Allep, sunnysde
Tbis' OF course. entails great deal of labor upon
the central establishment, which, IN the ordinary
course of the trade is divided among many hands
Orders for single books, or for single parts Oh DOCKS
come in by every post, and some oOO separate pack
ages are frequently dispatched in one day by post OF
parcels delivery AS MIR. Ruskins books all stump
tuously got up, they have to be all carefully
packed Every parcel is projected ty straw s;ghna
and stamping make up good days work Tor al con-
cerned. Her Majesty's POsmaster-Generai sucks no
small advantage thereirom, but he affords no special
facilities, and every afternoon Mr. Aliens man NAV
be seen rudging OH with his bundles on bis back 10
the village post Office mile ana more us.aa IRON IL
not cumbrous. There great run on the new
edition Of aThe Stones OF Venice but eyeqly sub
ecriber had his copy copies dispatched within tour
DAYS OF publication. Preterita' too is very pop
ular; but each part is punctually delivered within
three days In one respect noTer We Labor Mr.
Allen has positive orders to attend to no letter ASKING
credit This rule is not quite strictly enforced az
against the trade Obviously bookseller could not
be expected to pay for twenty copies say, OF he
Stones of Venice F" al four guineas each beloIe
delivery but prompt customers credit is
very seldom allose
PUBLISHING AS A HOME INDUSTRY.
Your readers will be surprised, i think, 10 hear
what staff is which discharges the various duties
have described 1t consists OF eight persons only,
two of whom it should he stated. largely occu-
pied much in the publishing as In the producing
department. Mr.. Allen himself is an engravcr by
.rafsssion For thirty wears lie has been engaged
"Modern Painters" will remember Mr. Ruskns
compliment to Mr.. o. Aliens accurate line studies
from nature" and nearly all his later works-from
tho Oxford lectures to Pr;eterita have been en-
Allen in his turn assisted in the engravi ing work By
his second son. The eldest and daughter
are chiefly responsible tor directing , the detail aI
OF the publishing work, while Mrs Allen
oaSe r'a Even have not
the family tasks More and more Mr.. knskin has
come az he has said, trust to his good friends at
OrDington. At first he took active part in super
intending the issue OF Ms books but lattesly ne has
they uring 1t out; "Do thi'.' and they do IT. Miss
Allen. in addition her duties proof reader was
sRuSkn Ensld.y Book" No outside help has ever
been called into any department; lis rot the
times when a new book like The Stones OF Venice
for instance is issued ~ We'll, yes it is, was the
answer; "but what we have to do we do. FOR one
thing there is no alternative You there is nobody
IN this village whom could take tor emergencies
but besides that, all have our hearts in the work,
and have been determining from the first to make Mr.
Ruskins experiment success Publishing at
sOrpin ton u.s. will be distinctly ahome industry
and the Aliens as Mr.. Ruskin says the preface to
the Seven Lamps" distinctly a helpful family
DISTINGUISHED STRANGERS AT sUYNYsIDE.
Visitors to Sunnyside are not unnsturally a good
deal surprised. "GeDerally,"l told, they will
not believe IL is the right house. They apologize tor
their mistake they wanted the shop will we kindly